Generation 1.5 of Russian Israelis: integrated but distinct

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the last 5 years, we conducted several ethnographic studies on the social, cultural, and political locations of the young Israeli adults who belong to Generation 1.5 of the ex-Soviet immigrant wave of the 1990s (those who moved to Israel as older children or adolescents). These studies showed that despite successful instrumental integration in the local middle classes in terms of educational and occupational mobility, these 1.5ers keep distinct and ambivalent social and cultural identities that form a third, hybrid path between the Russian and Israeli scripts. As opposed to their “silent” parents, young immigrants organize to protest against what some of them see as their second-class citizenship in the Jewish state. To expand this collective portrait beyond small groups and key activists, we conducted a national online survey among Russian Israeli 1.5ers that was completed by 650 respondents. In the article we report the selected survey findings, focusing on perceived economic mobility and discrimination, intergenerational relations, Jewish identity, political leanings, civic participation, language patterns, cultural interests, and transnational ties to their homelands.